Chapter 2: Romans Inducted

It became a thing. For the next few months till Percy's disappearance Nico would show up randomly and usher his cousin onto Mrs. O'Leary. Both adopted identically crazy grins and shadow traveled to find Thalia. Wherever the huntresses were Mrs. O'Leary was there in under a minute. The first time Artemis and her hunters tried to stop them. They had heard the tale of the first time it happened from Thalia. Why leave the hunt for a crappy burger. Her cousins didn't agree. Nico eventually just nabbed her as Percy saluted. Then they instantly disappeared.

The next time they spoke, "Thalia's coming with us," Nico said.

"Just for an hour or so Lady Artemis," Percy rolled his eyes at Nico. Then both his cousins fell into laughter.

"Did Kelp Head just sound respectful?" Thalia asked as she climbed on. Artemis didn't try to stop her. She realized then it was hopeless. She couldn't stop the two boys from taking her Lieutenant.

"Thanks Lady Artemis," winked Percy as they disappeared.

After Percy disappeared they stopped for a bit. It wasn't the same without him. The one time they tried they ate in complete silence. Percy was their messed up family's glue. Then the Giant War happened. Both of them found Roman siblings who loved Percy and each other as much as they did. So one day when Will was busy and Nico was bored he found Hazel with Frank.

"C'mon sis. Lets go find Jason." Frank was left sputtering as Hazel was towed off. She was towed away from the Pegasus stables to find Jason. He was on his way to Bunker Nine with Piper.

"Piper, I'm stealing Jason. He'll be back in a few hours. Bye!" Nico said as he put his arm around Jason's shoulder and turned him the other way. His other hand still had Hazel's in it's grasp. Piper just laughed and kept walking. Both Romans kept pestering Nico for details on what was happening. "I'll tell you when we pick up the last two people."

Mrs. O'Leary was outside the Poseidon cabin when they got there. Nico stopped and pointed to the dog.

"Get on the dog while I get Percy," Nico knocked on the cabin door. Percy answered it in PJs. Seeing Nico who grinned then pointed to Hazel on Mrs. O'Leary with Jason. He turned and asked, "BTC? (Big Three Cousins)."

Nico nodded. Percy held up a finger went back inside. When he came out a few minutes later fully dressed. Then he shouted back inside, "Expect me to be a while Annabeth. Code BTC."

"What's BTC?" Hazel asked.

"You'll see," answered the two Greeks with identical creepy grins.

"That's not good," Jason whined as Mrs. O'Leary ran into the trees.

Jason and Percy took a second to get oriented after that shadow travel trip. This time they had ended up in a place that seemed familiar to Percy and Nico as well.

"Colarado. We're near the Garden of the gods," Percy said mournfully. Right near the place where Daedalus's workshop had been in the Labryinth.

Nico gave a sad smile, "Perfect place for the hunters."

"Hunters?" Jason asked, "You mean Thalia."

"Yeah. There they are now." As Percy said this a hunting horn sounded. The hunters bounded in with Artemis.

"Hey Lady Artemis," Percy said as Nico waved Thalia onto the dog.

"BTC?" asked the huntress. She smiled and hopped on when she received a nod.

"Bye Lady Artemis!" called Percy with an enthusiastic wave as they disappeared. The goddess just sighed.

A minute later the group had arrived in front of a burger store in Denver. One that Percy recognized, "I can't eat here. Nico, this is where I first met Ares as a 12-year-old fugitive."

That got questioning looks from the Romans.

"Ask Annabeth to tell you later. She does it with out starting to yell and curse at the gods. If I told you a lot worse might happen."

"Sorry Perce, nor me or the dog have enough energy to shadow travel beside our trip to return Thalia and us to camp."

"Fine. If we get kicked out of the restaurant it's your fault Neeks?"

"I told you not to call me that."

"Nico, can you scold Percy for this later? Why are we here?" asked Hazel.

"Big Three Cousin Bonding!" said all three Greeks at the same time with identical creepy grins on their faces.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jason almost laughed.

"I'll tell you when we get the food. C'mon lil'bro I'm starved," Thalia waved her brother and Hazel into the restaurant. Luckily they were not kicked out, the waitress Ares had once threatened no longer worked there. Percy went unrecognized and they were safe.

Thalia went up to the counter and ordered what she ordered every time for her and her cousins. She got Hazel and Jason the same because if they were really part of this family how could they not love cheeseburgers?

When she brought the five cokes to the table Percy started, "You wanted to know why we're here. You can credit that to Nico kidnapping me after school one afternoon," he chuckled.

Nico fake pouted, "I was bored and wanted actual greasy food. I decided I didn't want to go alone so I got Percy and towed him to get Thalia."

"You guys kidnapped me. Well kind of, I was in charge of the hunters and you made me leave."

"We kidnapped you the next time, when Lady Artemis was there. She only tried to stop us twice," laughed Percy.

"You didn't listen when a goddess tried to stop you?" gasped Hazel.

"It's Percy. Of course he didn't. It's the other two that I'm actually kind of surprised about," Jason asked, "Now tell us why we're here?"

Percy grinned and answered, "We love cheeseburgers.-"

"As well as spending time with each other," Thalia disrupted. This earned her an elbow from Percy plus a pout that even she couldn't resist. She didn't shock him. At least not this time.

"So every so often Nico picks me up and then we go kidnap Thalia for Big Three Cousin bonding time. You guys are part of this wacky family too so I guess Nico was bored enough to pick you up and come get us for this delicious lunch."

"Will was busy," muttered Nico. His cousins laughed.

From then on every so often Nico would pick up Jason and Percy from Goode High School where they both went with their girlfriends. They then fetched Hazel from Camp Jupiter and went on to kidnap Thalia. No one really knew what they did at those lunches. The whole thing was kept between the five of them. Not even their significant others knew what happened there. The only proof these things ever happened was the pictures that each of them kept. A memento that each of them treasured.